What Type of Headphones Are the Least Problematic for a Tinnitus Sufferer?

First of all Dr. Nagler, I want to express my sympathies to you for your loss. I hope you know the kindness and generosity you have shown our tinnitus community is incredibly appreciated and please feel my virtual support during this time.

To my question, I wear headphones to listen to podcasts and music while running. Since the onset of tinnitus accompanied by sudden onset mild to moderate hearing loss above 3 kHz I now limit the use of my headphones at the lowest possible volume exclusively for my morning runs/gym time.

My earbuds that I had been using just died and I was looking for least damaging variant of exercise oriented headphones.

As I see it the options appear to be a loosely fitting over the ear headphones, not the big cups but flat half dollar sized disks that sit flat on the ear, in the ear canal sound isolating earbuds, loser fitting in the ear earbuds variants of the apple earbuds design, and finally induction earphones that rest above the ears.

 

Thank you for your reassuring words. It means a lot - more than I can say.

The best headphones for running are the ones that fit best and do not bounce around. In other words, whether it's headphones or earbuds, go for comfort. The only limiting step is dB output. So you will want to be sure that even though you set them "at the lowest possible volume," the maximum possible output is on the order of 75dB. Hopefully the documentation will provide that sort of information.

"Gym time" is another issue entirely. Often the biggest problem there is to protect your ears from the noises that are not coming through your headphones. One option would be to forgo the music piece entirely, and simply use earplugs for protection while in the gym. If you do want music in addition to protection, I would recommend noise cancelling headphones such as Bose QuietComfort 25 or 35. There again, I suggest keeping the maximum volume below 75dB.

Hope this helps.

Stephen M. Nagler, M.D.